DailyDirt: Beyond The Door, There's Peace I'm Sure...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

We've mentioned some interesting ways to rest in peace before -- turning your body into diamonds or sending your ashes into orbit. It may be a bit morbid, but some space fans really want to get off this planet even after they've died. If you want to leave this world (after death), you can get a ticket on more than one kind of spacecraft headed off beyond the Earth.

• A startup called Elysium Space will launch your ashes into space -- and even get cremated remains to the moon. The first 50 buyers will get an early bird price of $9,950 to go to the moon, and after that, it'll set you back $11,950. Just burning up in orbit (aka the Shooting Star option) costs just $1,990. [url]
• The ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, the guy who discovered Pluto, are flying out of our solar system into deep space. Tombaugh's remains (just an ounce) were packed on NASA's New Horizons probe to investigate Pluto, along with a few other trinkets. That spacecraft is coasting beyond Pluto now, making Tombaugh the human body that's traveled the farthest. [url]
• The ashes of Gene Roddenberry and his wife -- as well as Arthur C. Clarke and James Doohan -- were planned to be put into deep space, too. However, the Sunjammer mission was cancelled, so their ride on a solar sail spacecraft might have to wait. Celestis, the company behind this space memorial, has sent some of these ashes into space before, so it'll probably try again on another mission (or if Sunjammer is revived). [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: arthur c clarke, ashes, clyde tombaugh, funerals, gene roddenberry, james doohan, memorials, new horizons, pluto, solar sail, space, spacecraft, sunjammer
Companies: celestis, elysium

DailyDirt: Bring Out Your Dead...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Dying is usually not a pleasant eventuality, but no one has figured out how to live forever yet. So in the meantime, there are all sorts of ways for folks to bury their loved ones. Here are just a few out-of-the-ordinary ways to be laid to rest.

• Elvis Presley's original crypt is being auctioned off, and a really big fan of Elvis will be able to rest in peace where Elvis once did. The bidding starts at $100,000 -- but as the saying goes, "You can't take it with you..." [url]
• There are a bunch of companies that will turn ashes of loved ones (human or pet) into diamonds. Maybe they'll start engraving decoded genomes onto the diamonds, and that'll help preserve even more of our dearly departed. [url]
• Actor James Doohan, who played Scotty on the original Star Trek series, has been launched into orbit to his final resting place -- as (some of) his ashes were aboard the second stage of the SpaceX rocket that met up with the International Space Station. Celestis is the company that provided the service for Doohan, and it usually charges about $3,000 for a gram of ashes to reach Earth orbit. [url]
• To find some more bizarre/crazy stuff, check out some things that other StumbleUpon users have found. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: ashes, burial, crypt, diamonds, elvis presley, james doohan, scotty, space, star trek
Companies: spacex